Uploaded by TheYoungTurks on 28 Feb 2012
"Some 5m internal emails from Stratfor, an Austin, Texas-based company that brands itself as a "global intelligence" provider, were recently obtained by Anonymous, the hacker collective, and are being released in batches by WikiLeaks, the whistleblowing website, starting Monday. The most striking revelation from the latest disclosure is not simply the military-industrial complex that conspires to spy on citizens, activists and trouble-causers, but the extremely low quality of the information available to the highest bidder...".* Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur discuss on The Young Turks.

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_________________'Come and see the violence inherent in the system.
Help, help, I'm being repressed!'

“The more you tighten your grip, the more Star Systems will slip through your fingers.”

I eat my words Dave...
BBC really making a revealing total hash of this tonight!

I just heard Tim Hewell say twice on Newsnight that Assange is facing CHARGES in Sweden. Which of course he's not. Just questioning and one wonders why the Swedish detectives can't get on a plane to Heathow
On the main BBC 10 o'clock news tonight the reporter lady said Assange was seeking asylum in the Equatorial embassy.

Not 'obvious' IMO.
Nothing is in the world of intelligence whistleblowing websites.
The dark side would love to have a leak site and Wikileaks is certainly a candidate.
Trust Wikileaks and Assange at your peril.
We are living in a world of covert and sophisticated war making propaganda where the control of such a site could be crucial.

The diplomatic battle in the case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has taken a dramatic turn today: In an angry press conference streamed live on the Internet, Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño said Britain threatened to storm their embassy in London if Assange was not handed over to police.

"Ecuador is not a British colony," Patiño said. "The days of colonialism are over."

He added that "such a threat is improper of a democratic and civilized country."

Ramping up to a wider war by clamping down on investigative journalism/criticism of NATO war crimes
What annoys me is the lack of reference to this recent similar case of rights activist under house arrest

When Julian Assange arrived in Sweden in August 2010 he was greeted like a conquering hero. But within weeks there was a warrant out for his arrest and he was being investigated for rape and sexual molestation. Today he is taking sanctuary in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, arguing he won't receive justice if he's taken to Sweden and that US authorities are building a case for his extradition.

Next, Four Corners reporter Andrew Fowler examines in detail what happened in those crucial weeks while Julian Assange was in Sweden. What was the nature of his relationship with the two women who claim he assaulted them? And what did they tell police that led the authorities to seek his arrest?

"I will not tell any media how I am going to represent the women in court." Lawyer for Anna Ardin and Sofia Wilén

Both Assange and his supporters believe the attempt by authorities to force his return to Sweden is simply the first step in a plan to see him extradited to the United States.

"Sweden has frankly always been the United States' lapdog and it's not a matter we're particularly proud of." Assange supporter

"The US has nothing to do with the issue here, it's simply a matter between the UK and Sweden." Jeffrey L. Bleich, US Ambassador to Australia

Four Corners looks at claims the United States is working hard to unearth evidence that would lead to a charge of "conspiracy to commit espionage" being made against Assange - which in turn would be used in his extradition from Sweden. The program also documents the harassment experienced by Assange's supporters across the globe - including his Australian lawyer - and the FBI's attempts to convince some to give evidence against him.

George Galloway wades into Julian Assange row – and creates a storm
Read by 703 people

Monday 20 August 2012
Respect MP criticised by anti-rape campaigners after claiming having sex with a woman when she is asleep is not rape
Anti-rape campaigners have accused George Galloway of a "deeply disturbing and disappointing" attitude towards sexual violence after he claimed a rape allegation levelled at the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange had no basis because having sex with a woman when she is asleep is not rape.

In an extraordinary and graphic speech made through a weekly online video broadcast called Good Night with George Galloway, the Respect party MP for Bradford West addressed allegations of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion made by two women – known as woman A and woman B – Assange met on a visit to Stockholm in August 2010, including having sex with one of them while she was asleep. Assange strongly denies the allegations.

"Even taken at its worst, if the allegations made by these two women were true, 100% true, and even if a camera in the room captured them, they don't constitute rape," Galloway said. "At least not rape as anyone with any sense can possibly recognise it. And somebody has to say this.

"Woman A met Julian Assange, invited him back to her flat, gave him dinner, went to bed with him, had consensual sex with him, claims that she woke up to him having sex with her again. This is something which can happen, you know. I mean, not everybody needs to be asked prior to each insertion."

Lawyers and anti-rape campaigners said Galloway was wrong and the law is clear that consent is required every time someone has sex.

Galloway said he was speaking out because "a reign of intellectual terror has descended in Britain" on this issue and he believed the sexual assault claims were part of a "setup" intended to deliver Assange into the hands of the US authorities angered at his publication of state secrets.

"It is staggering just how ignorant, factually and morally incorrect George Galloway can be," said Katie Russell, spokeswoman for Rape Crisis England and Wales. "It is very concerning that an elected MP should display such ignorance of the law for all the women and men he represents. It sends a negative message to all the women and girls who have experienced sexual violence and a disturbing message to perpetrators. He says he doesn't believe these women or these allegations and that is a very powerful statement because every woman or girl who has made an allegation of sexual violence deserves to have that treated fairly."

A magistrates court has already ruled that: "What is alleged here is that Mr Assange 'deliberately consummated sexual intercourse with her by improperly exploiting that she, due to sleep, was in a helpless state'. In this country that would amount to rape."

The high court also ruled: "It is clear that the allegation is that he had sexual intercourse with her [woman A] when she was not in a position to consent and so he could not have had any reasonable belief that she did."

In his broadcast Galloway said: "Some people believe that when you go to bed with somebody, take off your clothes, and have sex with them and then fall asleep, you're already in the sex game with them. It might be really bad manners not to have tapped her on the shoulder and said: 'Do you mind if I do it again?.' It might be really sordid and bad sexual etiquette, but whatever else it is, it is not rape or you bankrupt the term rape of all meaning."

Sandy Brindley, national co-ordinator for Rape Crisis Scotland said Galloway's comments were "very unhelpful" and supported an enduring but false notion of "real" or "serious" rape.

"It can be just as devastating to be raped asleep by someone you know as it is to be raped by a stranger in the street," she said.

Assange remains holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in Knightsbridge, as he attempts to avoid extradition to Sweden where he is wanted for questioning over sexual assault claims. The lawfulness of a European arrest warrant issued by the Swedish authorities was confirmed in May by the UK's supreme court.

Assange and his supporters believe that if he travels to Stockholm he may be rendered to the United States and charged with espionage for publishing leaked military logs from Iraq and Afghanistan and highly classified diplomatic cables from US embassies around the world. They fear he faces life in prison, or even the death penalty in the US.

On Twitter, Galloway reacted dismissively to the uproar surrounding his remarks.

"Oh how this 'liberal' chorus of Pavlovian reaction must delight the Pentagon!" he tweeted. "Oh my, what a lot of 'liberal' useful idiots the Empire can count on. It's about WIKILEAKS stupid...!"

In a characteristically hectoring broadcast, Galloway also addressed allegations made by the second woman against Assange, over which he is wanted for questioning.

"She claimed that while she did have consensual sex with him, the condom ripped and yet he continued to do it," he said. "Now you wouldn't just need to be in the room with the two of them to know the truth of this allegation. I don't want to take the biology too far, but you would actually need to be somewhere located inside the woman to know if that allegation were true. And if it were true, is it rape?"

The Respect MP concluded by declaring: "I think the whole thing is a setup. I don't understand how so many of you can't see that. If he did these things, he's a rat. But the United States empire, the British empire, the imperial system that around the world is slaughtering human beings by the million, cutting their throats, starving them to death, leaving them to die of poverty and avoidable disease in their millions, is a much bigger rat, no? Imperialism is a much bigger rat than Julian Assange, no? So why would you want Assange to be delivered to the United States and silenced for ever, unless you were on the side of empire."

When I was a UNISON shop steward at the Refugee Council I blew the whistle on the managers of the department I worked in.

They immediately unsuccessfully tried to bring a case against me for racial discrimination towards a Vietnamese colleague. Seeing that this kind of false allegation was likely to continue, I applied for and got a sabbatical year's unpaid leave. A year later when I applied to return to work there they tried unsuccessfully to block my return. Within a month of my return they were removed from their posts, as a result of the investigation into their conduct which had been instigated by my whistleblowing.

This is the normal reaction of those against whom whistles have been blown. It is no surprise to me that damaging allegations have been made against Assange.

It is very difficult to prove rape unless there is a third witness, but proof is not needed to get Assange extradited to Sweden. A charge which has to be answered by the accused is all that is necessary.

Ecuador does not fear US revenge for granting asylum to Julian Assange. Despite America’s power in the world, it is not Ecuador’s “father or teacher to punish us,” the country’s foreign minister said exclusively to RT Spanish host Eva Golinger.
“We don’t think that any punishment is possible, nor do we think that there is a reason for revenge (let’s call it this way, it is stronger than “punishment”) for Ecuador’s sovereign decision. The USA does it every day,” Ricardo Patino said.
Ecuador believes that the situation around Assange will not provoke a breach in relations between his country and the US because there are no grounds for the relationship to worsen.
“The only difference is that it may appear now that a small, less-developed country has fewer rights to protect freedom and lives of other people than world powers,” Patino told Eva Golinger, RT Spanish TV host, lawyer and writer. “We have the same rights as they do. We will not accept any revenge in any case,” he stressed.
‘UK should apologize, and then we can talk’
Ecuador remains concerned about the UK’s threats to raid its embassy in London where the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, has found refuge.
“We have not got any statement from the UK which denies this [threat],” Patino said.
On the contrary, the UK keeps announcing that it will extradite Assange to Sweden regardless Ecuador’s decisions, he reminded.
The UK should apologize to Ecuador – in a written form – for their threats, or at least admit that they have made a mistake. Only after that will the dialogue become possible, he said.
The best way for the UK to correct its “mistakes” and solve this tough situation, as Ecuador sees it, would be to grant Assange a safe passage so that he could “practice freedom of speech, which Great Britain supposedly respects so much.”
If Britain stormed Ecuador’s embassy it would lead to very grave consequences, not only on the part of Ecuador, but also on the part of the whole Latin America, Patino said.
However, he believes “nothing like that would happen.”
“We believe that London will accept Ecuador’s sovereign decision. If that doesn’t happen, we’ll find a way out,” Patino said, adding that they may appeal to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
‘Assange – free speech icon’
One of the main reasons behind Ecuador’s decision to grant political asylum to Assange is protection of freedom of speech, Patino stressed – as well as the right to life, right to personal integrity, and right to freedom from political persecution.
And Julian Assange is an icon of the freedom of speech, the minister added.
“We are not doing this as part of election campaign – we are doing it because there are principles which need to be protected. And Ecuador protects them, despite all international media campaigns.”
Read the full interview on Thursday

Not only have the BBC hierarchy ruled Anna Ardin’s name must not be mentioned. Also Irmeli Krans’ name is banned from the airwaves. And no, she’s not an alleged “victim” in the Assange case.

I put in an official request to the BBC for an explanation as to why it was OK for the BBC to use Nafissatou Diallo’s name but not Anna Ardin’s, in identical circumstances. I have not got an answer yet, but my request did result in a mole within the BBC telling me reporters had been banned from mentioning Irmeli Krans.

STOCKHOLM (Rixstep) — Outspoken man-hater Irmeli Krans, friend of Anna Ardin and Swedish police investigator who interrogated Sofia Wilén, has been caught with her rabid feminist knickers down. Research by Flashback is able to show how Krans changed Wilén's testimony after the fact to skew the report, with no consultation with the witness.

That an early redacted copy of Wilén's testimony has been floating around the web for the past year is no news flash. What is a news flash is now the reporters at Flashback have been able to compare the original redacted copy with the new version Krans inserted into the police documentation system six days after the fact to pervert the cause of justice.

All this was done without consultation with Sofia Wilén or chief prosecutor Eva Finné who dismissed the charges against Julian Assange.

...the main issue about Irmeli Krans is not her friendship with Anna Ardin. Instead The main issue here is to investigate to which extent their frienship - and their political bound in the social democratic Party - biased the interrogation of Ardi's accuser-peer Sofia Wilen itself. Further, what was the plan for the interrogation? Was it according to a sequence recently disclosed in the Swedish investigative forum Flashback?

Important questions:

Why did the accuser SW in the company of AA arrived to the Police station at 14,00 the 20th of August to be interrogated in such opportunity coinciding with just the day and just the shift of Irmeli Krans at just that Police station? (The interrogation, as noted here and elsewhere, was conducted by Anna Ardin's friend and party comrade Irmeli Krans, the police-officer and HTB-feminist Irmeli Krans?
What associations would exist in the fact that the police officer was also active in the social democratic HTB movement, and as a member of its leadership?
What is the relevancy in the context above that such interrogation was never tape-recorded, against what it is customary and instructed by the Police authority? Or later re-edited out of "memory" by the police officer friend of the acusser AA?
Or that the same police officer that publicly have declared admiration for the accusers' lawyer Claes Borgström and his law-firm partner Thomas Bordström, both militant-feminists and both politicinas belong to the very same political party than Krans and AA? Yes, the same Claes Borgström, author of the initiative to re-open the Swedish case against Julian Assange.
Or that Thomas Bodström - the main Swedish politician targeted by the WikiLeaks disclosures and involved in the CIA rendition flights of Swedish political prisoners - was also her boss as former Minister of Justice?
The same Thomas Bodström which is from the very same political social-democratic group "Bröderskap" in which accuser AA is the political secretary since 2009?

Julian Assange's situation is surely a classic honey trap, the use of sexual attraction to lure a sincere whistleblower into the hands of his enemies. A famous example of this technique is the action by Israeli intelligence to capture Israeli whistleblowing nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu.

The following quote from Wikileaks outlines how Mordechai was captured:

"The Israeli government decided to capture Vanunu, but determined to avoid harming its good relationship with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and not wanting to risk confrontation with British intelligence, determined Vanunu should be persuaded to leave British territory under his own volition. Israel's efforts to capture Vanunu were headed by Giora Tzahor. Through constant surveillance, the Mossad found that Vanunu had become lonely and eager for female companionship. Masquerading as an American tourist called "Cindy", Israeli Mossad agent Cheryl Bentov befriended Vanunu, and on 30 September persuaded him to fly to Rome with her on a holiday.[23] This relation has been perceived as a classic honey trap operation whereby an intelligence agent employs seduction to gain the target's trust—a practice which has been officially sanctioned in Israel.[24][25][26] On the day Bentov met Vanunu, the Israeli Navy electronic surveillance ship INS Noga was ordered to the Italian coast.
"The Noga, disguised as a merchant ship, was fitted with electronic surveillance equipment and satellite communications gear in its superstructure, and was primarily used to intercept communications traffic in Arab ports. As the ship was heading from Antalya in Turkey back to Haifa, the captain was instructed to change course for Italy and anchor off the coast in an encrypted message. The Noga arrived off the Italian port city of La Spezia and anchored in international waters, just outside Italian waters.

"Once in Rome, Vanunu and Bentov took a taxi to an apartment in the old quarter of the city, where three waiting Mossad operatives overpowered Vanunu and injected him with a paralyzing drug. Later that night, a white van hired by the Israeli embassy arrived, and Vanunu was carried to it on a stretcher. The ambulance drove out of Rome, down the coast to a pre-arranged point. Vanunu was transferred to a waiting speedboat, which then rendezvoused with the waiting Noga anchored off the coast. Vanunu was brought onto the Noga in total secrecy. The crew were told to assemble in the ship's common room and lock the door as Vanunu and the Mossad agents were taken aboard. The ship then set sail for Israel. During the journey, Vanunu was kept in a cabin, with Mossad agents taking turns guarding him. None of the Noga's crew were allowed to look at the prisoner. On 6 October, the ship anchored off the coast of Israel between Tel Aviv and Haifa, where it was met by a smaller vessel to which Vanunu was transferred. The vessel then took Vanunu to Israel.[23][27][28]

(Given recent calls from the Israeli government to attack Iran on the grounds that it is allegedly developing nuclear weapons, Israeli policy amounts to extraordinary hypocrisy and gross violation of human rights.)

You know I'd completely missed this angle to StratFor
StratFor Capital Management
Or StratCap.
http://wikileaks.org/the-gifiles.html
They are now out there touting in the business investment market encouraging massive firms to invest in their own captal management fund
And using their bribes, agents and privatised intelligence networks to steal a march on all other funds.
They have no oversight whatever and have developed a clear motive to make money by starting wars that they can take an investment position on and literally reap billions from.
This company has provided a secret profit hub for the most ruthless and evil that humanity can produce.

"[Y]ou have to take control of him. Control means financial, sexual or psychological control... This is intended to start our conversation on your next phase" – CEO George Friedman to Stratfor analyst Reva Bhalla on 6 December 2011, on how to exploit an Israeli intelligence informant providing information on the medical condition of the President of Venezuala, Hugo Chavez.

The material contains privileged information about the US government’s attacks against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks and Stratfor’s own attempts to subvert WikiLeaks. There are more than 4,000 emails mentioning WikiLeaks or Julian Assange. The emails also expose the revolving door that operates in private intelligence companies in the United States. Government and diplomatic sources from around the world give Stratfor advance knowledge of global politics and events in exchange for money. The Global Intelligence Files exposes how Stratfor has recruited a global network of informants who are paid via Swiss banks accounts and pre-paid credit cards. Stratfor has a mix of covert and overt informants, which includes government employees, embassy staff and journalists around the world.

The material shows how a private intelligence agency works, and how they target individuals for their corporate and government clients. For example, Stratfor monitored and analysed the online activities of Bhopal activists, including the "Yes Men", for the US chemical giant Dow Chemical. The activists seek redress for the 1984 Dow Chemical/Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal, India. The disaster led to thousands of deaths, injuries in more than half a million people, and lasting environmental damage.

Stratfor has realised that its routine use of secret cash bribes to get information from insiders is risky. In August 2011, Stratfor CEO George Friedman confidentially told his employees : "We are retaining a law firm to create a policy for Stratfor on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. I don’t plan to do the perp walk and I don’t want anyone here doing it either."

Stratfor’s use of insiders for intelligence soon turned into a money-making scheme of questionable legality. The emails show that in 2009 then-Goldman Sachs Managing Director Shea Morenz and Stratfor CEO George Friedman hatched an idea to "utilise the intelligence" it was pulling in from its insider network to start up a captive strategic investment fund. CEO George Friedman explained in a confidential August 2011 document, marked DO NOT SHARE OR DISCUSS : "What StratCap will do is use our Stratfor’s intelligence and analysis to trade in a range of geopolitical instruments, particularly government bonds, currencies and the like". The emails show that in 2011 Goldman Sach’s Morenz invested "substantially" more than $4million and joined Stratfor’s board of directors. Throughout 2011, a complex offshore share structure extending as far as South Africa was erected, designed to make StratCap appear to be legally independent. But, confidentially, Friedman told StratFor staff : "Do not think of StratCap as an outside organisation. It will be integral... It will be useful to you if, for the sake of convenience, you think of it as another aspect of Stratfor and Shea as another executive in Stratfor... we are already working on mock portfolios and trades". StratCap is due to launch in 2012.

The Stratfor emails reveal a company that cultivates close ties with US government agencies and employs former US government staff. It is preparing the 3-year Forecast for the Commandant of the US Marine Corps, and it trains US marines and "other government intelligence agencies" in "becoming government Stratfors". Stratfor’s Vice-President for Intelligence, Fred Burton, was formerly a special agent with the US State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service and was their Deputy Chief of the counterterrorism division. Despite the governmental ties, Stratfor and similar companies operate in complete secrecy with no political oversight or accountability. Stratfor claims that it operates "without ideology, agenda or national bias", yet the emails reveal private intelligence staff who align themselves closely with US government policies and channel tips to the Mossad – including through an information mule in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Yossi Melman, who conspired with Guardian journalist David Leigh to secretly, and in violation of WikiLeaks’ contract with the Guardian, move WikiLeaks US diplomatic cables to Israel.

Ironically, considering the present circumstances, Stratfor was trying to get into what it called the leak-focused "gravy train" that sprung up after WikiLeaks’ Afghanistan disclosures :

"[Is it] possible for us to get some of that ’leak-focused’ gravy train ? This is an obvious fear sale, so that’s a good thing. And we have something to offer that the IT security companies don’t, mainly our focus on counter-intelligence and surveillance that Fred and Stick know better than anyone on the planet... Could we develop some ideas and procedures on the idea of ´leak-focused’ network security that focuses on preventing one’s own employees from leaking sensitive information... In fact, I’m not so sure this is an IT problem that requires an IT solution."

Global Intelligence Files – more than five million emails from the Texas-headquartered "global intelligence" company Stratfor. The emails date from between July 2004 and late December 2011. They reveal the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal’s Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defense Intelligence Agency. The emails show Stratfor’s web of informers, pay-off structure, payment-laundering techniques and psychological methods, for example :

"[Y]ou have to take control of him. Control means financial, sexual or psychological control... This is intended to start our conversation on your next phase" – CEO George Friedman to Stratfor analyst Reva Bhalla on 6 December 2011, on how to exploit an Israeli intelligence informant providing information on the medical condition of the President of Venezuala, Hugo Chavez.

The material contains privileged information about the US government’s attacks against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks and Stratfor’s own attempts to subvert WikiLeaks. There are more than 4,000 emails mentioning WikiLeaks or Julian Assange. The emails also expose the revolving door that operates in private intelligence companies in the United States. Government and diplomatic sources from around the world give Stratfor advance knowledge of global politics and events in exchange for money. The Global Intelligence Files exposes how Stratfor has recruited a global network of informants who are paid via Swiss banks accounts and pre-paid credit cards. Stratfor has a mix of covert and overt informants, which includes government employees, embassy staff and journalists around the world.

The material shows how a private intelligence agency works, and how they target individuals for their corporate and government clients. For example, Stratfor monitored and analysed the online activities of Bhopal activists, including the "Yes Men", for the US chemical giant Dow Chemical. The activists seek redress for the 1984 Dow Chemical/Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal, India. The disaster led to thousands of deaths, injuries in more than half a million people, and lasting environmental damage.

Stratfor has realised that its routine use of secret cash bribes to get information from insiders is risky. In August 2011, Stratfor CEO George Friedman confidentially told his employees : "We are retaining a law firm to create a policy for Stratfor on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. I don’t plan to do the perp walk and I don’t want anyone here doing it either."

Stratfor’s use of insiders for intelligence soon turned into a money-making scheme of questionable legality. The emails show that in 2009 then-Goldman Sachs Managing Director Shea Morenz and Stratfor CEO George Friedman hatched an idea to "utilise the intelligence" it was pulling in from its insider network to start up a captive strategic investment fund. CEO George Friedman explained in a confidential August 2011 document, marked DO NOT SHARE OR DISCUSS : "What StratCap will do is use our Stratfor’s intelligence and analysis to trade in a range of geopolitical instruments, particularly government bonds, currencies and the like". The emails show that in 2011 Goldman Sach’s Morenz invested "substantially" more than $4million and joined Stratfor’s board of directors. Throughout 2011, a complex offshore share structure extending as far as South Africa was erected, designed to make StratCap appear to be legally independent. But, confidentially, Friedman told StratFor staff : "Do not think of StratCap as an outside organisation. It will be integral... It will be useful to you if, for the sake of convenience, you think of it as another aspect of Stratfor and Shea as another executive in Stratfor... we are already working on mock portfolios and trades". StratCap is due to launch in 2012.

The Stratfor emails reveal a company that cultivates close ties with US government agencies and employs former US government staff. It is preparing the 3-year Forecast for the Commandant of the US Marine Corps, and it trains US marines and "other government intelligence agencies" in "becoming government Stratfors". Stratfor’s Vice-President for Intelligence, Fred Burton, was formerly a special agent with the US State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service and was their Deputy Chief of the counterterrorism division. Despite the governmental ties, Stratfor and similar companies operate in complete secrecy with no political oversight or accountability. Stratfor claims that it operates "without ideology, agenda or national bias", yet the emails reveal private intelligence staff who align themselves closely with US government policies and channel tips to the Mossad – including through an information mule in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Yossi Melman, who conspired with Guardian journalist David Leigh to secretly, and in violation of WikiLeaks’ contract with the Guardian, move WikiLeaks US diplomatic cables to Israel.

Ironically, considering the present circumstances, Stratfor was trying to get into what it called the leak-focused "gravy train" that sprung up after WikiLeaks’ Afghanistan disclosures :

"[Is it] possible for us to get some of that ’leak-focused’ gravy train ? This is an obvious fear sale, so that’s a good thing. And we have something to offer that the IT security companies don’t, mainly our focus on counter-intelligence and surveillance that Fred and Stick know better than anyone on the planet... Could we develop some ideas and procedures on the idea of ´leak-focused’ network security that focuses on preventing one’s own employees from leaking sensitive information... In fact, I’m not so sure this is an IT problem that requires an IT solution."

WikiLeaks released more than 5 million e-mails Monday hacked from U.S.-based global intelligence firm Strategy Forecasting Inc. (Stratfor), revealing an alleged plan between the firm's CEO and a Goldman Sachs executive to set up an investment fund that would rely on inside information gathered by the company.

A September 2011 company-wide e-mail composed by Stratfor CEO George Friedman indicates that Goldman Sachs financial adviser and former Managing Director Shea Morenz was directly involved in the establishment of the investment fund StratCap.

"Shea Morenz provided us with two opportunities," wrote Friedman.

"First, he made an investment in Stratfor designed to give us the capital needed to build our staff and our marketing. Second, he proposed a new venture, StratCap, which would allow us to utilize the intelligence we were gathering about the world in a new but related venue -- an investment fund. Where we had previously advised other hedge funds. We would now have our own, itself fully funded by Shea."

Morenz recently joined the board of directors at Stratfor and has been named CEO of StratCap, due to launch in early spring of 2012. The investment fund was set up offshore and made to appear legally independent from U.S.-based Stratfor, but the distinction is but a formality.

"Do not think of StratCap as an outside organization," wrote Friedman in the same e-mail.

"It will be integral to Stratfor, in the sense that much of the intelligence we are developing is useful to Stratcap as well as Stratfor. The organizational and legal distinctions are real and important, but StratCap is linked to Stratfor intellectually and contractually. It will be useful to you if, for the sake of convenience, you think of it as another aspect of Stratfor and Shea as another executive in Stratfor."

Stratfor released a statement Monday, according to Reuters, saying some of the leaked e-mails "may be forged or altered to include inaccuracies; some may be authentic."

"We will not validate either," the statement read. "Nor will we explain the thinking that went into them. Having had our property stolen, we will not be victimized twice by submitting to questioning about them."

The company, established by Friedman in 1996 in Austin, Texas, provides a subscriber-based global intelligence service, including information relating to national security and geopolitical analyses of economic markets, much of it gathered through its international network of agents -- in essence, a private sector analog of the CIA.

Insider Trading and the Law

That StratCap is an investment arm of Stratfor in all but name is not necessarily a legal transgression in and of itself.

John C. Coates, Professor of Law and Economics at Harvard, explained that laws governing insider trading do not proscribe a company, whether or not it is a subsidiary of another, from making investments based on market information obtained through another company, so long as the information itself does not violate insider trading statutes.

What a company cannot do is trade based on confidential information -- surreptitiously obtained, by definition -- that could affect the value of the shares it is trading.

In short, StratCap's formal appearance of separation from Stratfor would ultimately not protect it from prosecution under insider trading laws if it were to engage in such activity.

UC Berkeley Law Professor Eric Talley said that setting up StratCap as a separate legal entity serves primarily as a buffer for Statfor against liability should StratCap go bankrupt. Talley added that StratCap could theoretically claim plausible deniability, if it traded on confidential information provided to it by Stratfor, but that such an argument would not likely hold up in court.

There is no information yet that confirms StratCap had intended to engage in insider trading, though it would be getting privileged access to information gathered by Stratfor without having to inform the company's shareholders about its investments. Talley said this opens up a legal gray area that is conducive to insider trading, but not directly engaged in the practice.

The public search engine for the US National Archives appears to be blocked for the term “WikiLeaks”. The whistleblower website has already lashed out at the move, saying the Archives has turned into “Orwell’s Ministry of Truth.”

An error message pops up every time a search is performed with the word “WikiLeaks”.

It’s not entirely clear when the US National Archives decided to block these searches.

Screenshot from archives.gov

However, WikiLeaks’ has already called the whole thing a “farce”.

“The US National Archives has literally turned into Orwell’s Ministry of Truth,” a message on the site’s Twitter account reads, adding “The US state is literally eating its own brain by censoring its own collective memories about WikiLeaks.”

Regardless of personalties involved, and personal tastes, we ought to expect transparency of transactions of our governing bodies. Whistle-blowers ensure this transparency is adhered to, by bringing to light the opaque and at times hidden transactions taking place in our name.

This poll is now closed_________________'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkpUf0tuH84
The man on the frontline of the information battle, WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange, has given a Christmas address. He has delivered his speech from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he's been ensconced for six months, after being granted political asylum.

"My freedom is limited, I am at least able to communicate. Unlike Gottfrid Svartholm, Jeremy Hammond, Nabeel Rajab, Brad Manning," said Assange. During his speech he also made a major announcement, ""WikiLeaks already has 1 million documents being prepared for release. These documents will affect EVERY country in the world!" Assange also referenced his plans to run for Australian Senate in 2013.

Assange supporters outside the Embassy chanted "El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!" which means, "The people united, will never be defeated!"

Thomas Olsson - One of Julian Assange’s 2 Swedish lawyers
He has extensive experience in highly politicised cases in Sweden. Olsson has been engaged in a long-term court battle to expose and quash eight murder convictions of Sture Bergvall, aka Thomas Quick. The Thomas Quick case has become known as Sweden’s most infamous case of miscarriage of justice. Quick is a mental patient who was given opiates in order to reveal suppressed memories and who grew addicted to confessing crimes he had not committed. He has since retracted his confessions and been cleared of half of the murders (the remaining sentences are currently being appealed). Quick’s defence counsel during the murder trials was Claes Borgström, who is now disgraced because of this case and as a result has reported himself to the Swedish Bar Association. Claes Borgström is a high profile politician and laywer representing the two complainants, AA and SW, against Julian Assange.

Per E. Samuelson* - One of Julian Assange’s 2 Swedish lawyers
He has extensive experience in highly politicised cases in Sweden. Samuelson is an outspoken critic of the failings of due process in Sweden. He was defence counsel in the Pirate Bay case.
per@ssw.se +46 (0) 708 47 33 41 +46 (0)8 545 722 50

This section lists commentators (who are on the most part based in Sweden) that are relevant to Julian Assange’s case. Their suggested contact details are available publicly on the internet. These are independent sources with differing views of the case. Those commentators that are directly connecteded with the case are indicated by an asterisk (*).

The Swedish Prosecution Authority has information in English about the ’Assange matter’.

Mishandling of the case by investigators and abuse by the prosecution authorities

Brita Sundberg-Weitman *
A retired Appeal Court judge expert witness at the February hearing. She testified in relation to the Swedish media climate, the bias of the prosecutor, and the problems in the investigation.
+46 (0)8 6616354

Sven-Erik Alhem *
Former senior prosecutor. Expert witness in the February Hearing. He testified regarding the investigation, lay judges, problems with the prosecution and prospects for a fair trial for Julian Assange.
sven-erik.alhem@swipnet.se +46 (0)708-577600 / +46(0)733-730009

Per Lindeberg
Journalist that focuses on the Swedish legal system and cases of miscarriages of justice such as the da Costa case. He has been critical of the handling of the case against Julian Assange.

Johan Binninge
Binninge is the head of the civil rights organisation RO in Sweden and has filed several complaints to the Justice Obudsman against the prosecutor and the interrogating officer in the Julian Assange case.

Olle Andersson
A veteran journalist that has been critical of the Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny and of the Swedish mainstream press in the case against Julian Assange.
ollea67@gmail.com

William (Billy) Butt
Butt has been the victim of miscarriages of justice, racism and trial by media in several accusations of rape for which he was convicted and has now been exonerated. Björn Hurtig, Julian Assange’s defence counsel, has represented Butt at the Supreme Court. Butt is associated with the civil rights organisation RO and has written several articles in support of Julian Assange.
billybee@telia.com

Therese Juel
Theresa Juel’s book (2010), Sexcrimes Convictions in Sweden, examined the cases of ten men who were wrongfully convicted for sexual offences in Sweden. She is critical of the Swedish system and the changes in the sexual offences laws in Sweden

Ann Helena Rudberg
Journalist: has been critical of the investigation against Julian Assange, rape laws and gender politics in Sweden, in connection with the case against Julian Assange.
ann.helena@swipnet.se

Olle Andersson
A veteran journalist that has been critical of Swedish mainstream press in the case against Julian Assange.
ollea67@gmail.com

Al Burke
Editor of Nordic News Network website and former U.S. citizen. Has followed the investigation, the media coverage, and the political dimension of the case against Julian Assange.
editor@nnn.se

Brita Sundberg-Weitman *
A retired Appeal Court judge expert witness at the February hearing. She testified in relation to the Swedish media climate, the bias of the prosecutor, and the problems in the investigation.
+46 (0)8 6616354

Henrik Arnstad
Swedish journalist, has been critical of media coverage in Sweden of the case against Julian Assange.
henrik@webbsidor.com, +46 (0)704-56 22 97

Helene Bergman
Bergman had a feminist radio programme in the 1980s and has been critical of the way that gender politics have developed in Sweden in recent years.
helene.bergman@me.com

Per Lindeberg
Journalist that focuses on the Swedish legal system and cases of miscarriages of justice such as the da Costa case. He has been critical of the handling of the case against Julian Assange.

Therese Juel
Theresa Juel’s book (2010), Sexcrimes Convictions in Sweden, examined the cases of ten men who were wrongfully convicted for sexual offences in Sweden. She is critical of the Swedish system and the changes in the sexual offences laws in Sweden

Jan Myrdal
Writer and critic, critical of the Swedish Prime Minister’s intervention in the Case against Julian Assange.
+46 (0)22351007

William (Billy) Butt
Butt has been the victim of miscarriages of justice, racism and trial by media in several accusations of rape for which he was convicted and has now been exonerated for. Björn Hurtig, Julian Assange’s defence counsel, has represented Butt at the Supreme Court. Butt is associated with the civil rights organisation RO and has written several articles in support of Julian Assange.
billybee@telia.com

Brian Palmer
Social anthropologist and lectures at the Department of Theology at Uppsala University. He has previously lectured at the University of Gothenburg and Harvard University. He has focussed on political interference, and the United States’ influence in Swedish politics in the case against Julian Assange.
brian.palmer@teol.uu.se
Sweden US relations

Al Burke
Sweden-based US journalist who has followed the investigation, the media coverage, and the political dimension of the case against Julian Assange.
editor@nnn.se

Brian Palmer
Social anthropologist and lectures at Uppsala University. He has lectured at the University of Gothenburg and Harvard University. He has focussed on political interference, and the United States’ influence in Swedish politics in the case against Julian Assange.
brian.palmer@teol.uu.se

Jan Myrdal
Writer and critic, critical of the Swedish Prime Minister’s intervention in the Case against Julian Assange.
+46 (0)22351007

Mark Crispin Miller
Professor of Culture and Communication at NYU. He runs the News From the Underground Daily News Service. Has written about the political dimension of the Julian Assange case.

Andrew Kreig
Journalist and attorney, commentator and senior fellow at the Shuster Institute for Investigative Journalism (Brandeis University), director of the Justice Integrity Project. Kreig is a Washington D.C. based human rights activist, and contributor to the Huffington Post. Has written about political relations between US-Sweden, particularly Karl Rove’s links to the Swedish ruling party, Moderaterna. andrew (at) justice-integrity.org

Naomi Wolf
Equal rights and social justice activist, writer, and co-founder of the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership, as well as co-founder of the American Freedom Campaign. Among other articles on the allegations against Assange and WikiLeaks, Wolf has written on Karl Rove’s links with Sweden in connection with the case.
See naomiwolf.org
Sexual offence laws in Sweden

Göran Rudling *
Witness in the February Hearing, discovered complainant AA’s twitter feed and reported the fact that she destroyed evidence to the investigating authorities. Has been critical of the investigation and the prosecution.
+ 46 (0) 8 545 701 30

Brita Sundberg-Weitman *
A retired Appeal Court judge expert witness at the February hearing. She testified in relation to the Swedish media climate, the bias of the prosecutor, and the problems in the investigation.
+46 (0)8 6616354

Therese Juel
Theresa Juel’s book (2010), Sexcrimes Convictions in Sweden, examined the cases of ten men who were wrongfully convicted for sexual offences in Sweden, she is critical of the Swedish system and the changes in the sexual offences laws in Sweden.

Ann Helena Rudberg
Journalist: has been critical of the investigation against Julian Assange, rape laws and gender politics in Sweden, in connection with the case against Julian Assange.
ann.helena@swipnet.se

Petter Asp
Professor of Criminal Law at Stockholm University, has recently written an anthology about rape laws.

Elvy Wicklund
Was critical of the changes to the sexual offences law of 2005.
+46 (0)19121264; elvy@kvinnojuristen.com
Gender politics in Sweden

Brita Sundberg-Weitman *
A retired Appeal Court judge expert witness at the February hearing. She testified in relation to the Swedish media climate, the bias of the prosecutor, and the problems in the investigation.
+46 (0)8 6616354

Ann Helena Rudberg
Journalist: has been critical of the investigation against Julian Assange, rape laws and gender politics in Sweden, in connection with the case against Julian Assange.
ann.helena@swipnet.se

William (Billy) Butt
Butt has been the victim of miscarriages of justice, racism and trial by media in several accusations of rape for which he was convicted and has now been exonerated for. Björn Hurtig, Julian Assange’s defence counsel, has represented Butt at the Supreme Court. Butt is associated with the civil rights organisation RO and has written several articles in support of Julian Assange.
billybee@telia.com

Therese Juel
Theresa Juel’s book (2010), Sexcrimes Convictions in Sweden, examined the cases of ten men who were wrongfully convicted for sexual offences in Sweden, she is critical of the Swedish system and the changes in the sexual offences laws in Sweden
Rule of Law and Human Rights in Sweden

Brita Sundberg-Weitman *
A retired Appeal Court judge expert witness at the February hearing. She testified in relation to the Swedish media climate, the bias of the prosecutor, and the problems in the investigation.
+46 (0)8 6616354

Pelle Svensson
Former wrestler Olympic medallist and renowned veteran lawyer who has been critical of networks of influence in the Swedish legal system and of the erosion of due process for men accused of sexual offences. He is also an expert in the Thomas Quick case and the Tito Beltran case.
Contact through: http://pellesvensson.posterous.com/ or mikael@aspiento.se or 0760311369 (10am to 6pm, weekdays only)

Göran Lysén
Legal commentator and retired Lecturer at Uppsala University in International Law. He is critical of the Rule of Law in Sweden. Incidentally he has had a confrontation with complainant AA on a matter unrelated to the Assange case.
Goran.Lysen@jur.uu.se

William (Billy) Butt
Butt has been the victim of miscarriages of justice, racism and trial by media in several accusations of rape for which he was convicted and has now been exonerated for. Björn Hurtig, Julian Assange’s defence counsel, has represented Butt at the Supreme Court. Butt is associated with the civil rights organisation RO and has written several articles in support of Julian Assange.
billybee@telia.com

Jens Lapidus and Johan Åkermark
These two defence lawyers wrote an article arguing that the criticism directed at the Swedish justice system by Julian Assange’s laywers at the February hearing was justified.
jens.lapidus@expressen.se.
Johan Åkermark: +44(0)8 545 701 30

Ann Helena Rudberg
Journalist: has been critical of the investigation against Julian Assange, rape laws and gender politics in Sweden, in connection with the case against Julian Assange.
ann.helena@swipnet.se

Julian Assange will make an appearance.
Marking one year since Ecuador gave refuge to Assange.
Come to the Ecuadorian Embassy
Welcome the Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino
Celebrate the Work of WikiLeaks
Stand with the Ecuadorian people

Click here for further details:

Link to Facebook event for Assange Embassy Appearance

Thanks to Peter Koford for creating the facebook event._________________'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.

Ecuador’s foreign ministry announced on Friday that the US has seemingly denied visas to a delegation that was set to travel to the UN General Assembly in New York to present their case regarding an ongoing dispute against Chevron-Texaco.

According to the ministry’s official announcement, the visas for the five Ecuadorian nationals were returned by the US Embassy in Quito “without any explanation.”

That group was to present testimony during a special event at the UN regarding the ecological impact caused by Chevron-Texaco’s oil operations in the Amazon rainforest region of Ecuador - which contaminated two million hectares, according to the country’s government.

Julian Assange's prolonged stay in the Ecuadorian Embassy has cost the Metropolitan Police £5.3million, in the 18 months since he entered the building in Knightsbridge.

Police are stationed day and night outside the embassy, where the WikiLeaks founder was granted asylum, ready to arrest Assange, who was set to be extradited to face questioning in Sweden on sexual assault allegations.

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